Exhaustion
by mazikeenpendragon
Summary: Carly takes note of how her daughter has been wearing herself thin.


**Exhaustion**

 **Summary: Carly takes note of how her daughter has been wearing herself thin.**

Carly whirled around as soon as the door to the living room opened and her daughter walked in. Immediately, worry filled her. An all time familiar feeling by now. She could practically feel how exhausted the teenager was. The teen looked ready to collapse at any moment.

She hurried over to her daughter and cupped her face gently. She gazed at the dark circles under her daughter's eyes and the paleness of her skin. "You need to get some rest."

Josslyn looked up. "I must look awful." She joked with a fake smile painted onto her pink lips. "You and Kim have both told me this. Cam even mentioned it."

Carly frowned at her daughter's words. "Honey, I know you're worried about Oscar, but you have to take care of yourself, too." She pulled the teen over to the sofa and they both sat down. She raised a hand to comb her fingers through the girl's silky hair, frown still marring her features.

The teen shook her head negatively. "No, what I need to do is be there for Oscar. I made him a promise. I made his parents a promise."

"Oscar's health isn't your responsibility. You've been there for him. That's admirable. The world won't end if you let yourself rest. He'll still be there." Her mother's voice was firm as she said the words, trying her damndest to get through to her.

Josslyn laughed bitterly. "But for how long? Just because he's doing the trials doesn't mean he'll live. It could shorten his life span. I have to spend as much time with him as I possibly can before..." She trailed off with a strangled sob.

Carly's heart clenched at her daughter's words, all at once realizing the hopefulness and sureness Josslyn had shown had all been a facade. "Oh, baby." She murmured, immediately wrapping Josslyn into her arms.

Josslyn fell into her mother's embrace and sobbed, her hands clutched at her mother's arm for dear life as she did so.

"I would do anything to make sure you didn't have to go through this." Her mother mumbled into her hair, tears spilled from her own eyes at her daughter's pain and what Oscar was going through. It really wasn't fair. Hadn't her little girl lost enough?

* * *

Carly stood to her feet. "I'm going to go order a pizza and fix you some hot cocoa. _Then_ we can talk." She left the room and hurried into the kitchen, cellphone already at her ear. She quickly grabbed the chocolate and the milk for the cocoa as well as the cinnamon, whipped cream, and sprinkles and made it. When she came back with the cup, she stopped short at the sight of Josslyn, curled up on the sofa fast asleep. She grabbed the throw from over the sofa and covered her daughter with it. She brushed back the girl's hair as she did so and kissed her forehead.

When Josslyn woke up two hours later, her mother was beside her, book in her hand. "How long was I asleep?" She asked groggily, sitting up.

Carly marked her place and sat the book down on the coffee table. "Two hours. When I came to give you some hot cocoa, you were knocked out."

"I didn't even realize I was that tired." Josslyn said, head lowered so her blonde hair curtained her face.

"You see why I was worried? This isn't healthy! You haven't been sleeping well. And while I know you're worried about Oscar, you're important too." Carly cried out.

Josslyn brushed her messy hair back from her face and grabbed a slice of cold pizza. "I'm not the one in the hospital. Oscar is."

Her mother shifted uncomfortably. "Speaking of Oscar...about what you said earlier. About how you were trying to spend all the time with him you could...why didn't you tell be about how scared you were?"

The teen tried to keep her tears at bay. "Well I couldn't voice it. That makes it more real. I guess I was in denial. But I know the realities. I know what can happen. And since learning about Oscar's illness, I've felt like something bad was going to happen."

"So you've just been dealing with this yourself?" Carly's heart broke at her daughter's nod. "Honey, you need to promise me that when you have these fears you'll talk to someone about them. I don't care if it's me or your brother. Or if you go talk to Morgan. You just can't be dealing with everything alone."

Josslyn nodded brokenly and curled her legs to her chest, her arms wrapped around them. "I'm just so scared, mom. I feel so hopeless. It's like...if I take my eyes off of Oscar or don't think of him for one minute, he'll die. I can't lose him. I've already lost Morgan. I never even got to say goodbye to him. He just...was gone."

Tears spilled down Carly's cheeks at the mention of her son. "Oscar isn't Morgan, Josslyn. I can't promise you that Oscar will live, but the situations are different. Besides...Oscar is fighting his hardest. And if there's one thing I know about him is he'd never want you hurt. So you've just got to believe in him. And you've got to take care of yourself. For him."

Josslyn bit her lip at that. "You're right." She answered quietly, blue eyes on her mother. "Thank you, mom. For getting through to me. Sorry I'm so stubborn."

Carly laughed tearfully at that and hugged her daughter warmly. "It's okay, I wouldn't expect anything less from my daughter."

Josslyn couldn't promise that she'd never worry, but she knew who to go to with those feelings now and she'd try her best to think of what her mother had said.


End file.
